1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a driver blade for use in a fastening tool, particularly for a fastening tool for driving fasteners for fastening trim for finishing applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Driver blades for fastening tools are used to drive fasteners, such as those used to secure trim or molding for finishing applications. For finishing applications, driver blades are typically long, thin, unsupported pieces of metal which must repeatedly strike fasteners with a significant amount of force. The driver blade must be strong and durable enough to withstand thousands of cycles.
In order to ensure that a driver blade has the strength and durability required to withstand a large number of cycles, driver blades have typically been made by machining a bar of steel or other metal having the desired strength and hardness, see for example the driver blade disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,525. However, machining a driver blade can be overly expensive, a problem that is exacerbated by the fact that driver blades typically have to be changed out due to wear several times during the life of a tool.
What is needed is a driver blade with the strength and durability to withstand a large number of driving cycles, but that is inexpensive to manufacture.